"Let me just say this, No. 1 - I made this statement (Monday) and Sean (Payton) has made this statement - that this franchise that we're going against is the Microsoft of our industry with what they've done," said Vitt. "Number two - in my era as a coach, Bill Belichick is the coach of my era. He's the Don Shula, the Bill Walsh of my era. So they've had some adversity and have done a great job of handling it. I've had conversations with Bill. We know that our players are strong. We've been through adversity before, but there's really no comparisons as you're getting out to these practices. We're trying to get better, both teams every day."

After hearing about the "Microsoft" comment, Belichick offered up similar praise for the Saints during yesterday's media session.

"We just try to go out and work hard and get better every day," said Belichick. "We know that there a lot of other great organizations and teams and players and coaches out there. It's a good challenge every week and certainly the Saints are one of the top teams in professional football. As I said, they're well coached, they have great talent, good players, good scheme [and] they win a lot of games.

"We played against them two years ago, practiced against them two years ago in their championship season. There isn't any team we have more respect for than the Saints from top to bottom. They do a great job all the way around."